Rural Health
News by Topic: Health workforce supply and demand
Mar 26, 2026 - Highlights the Rural Health Agenda, a bipartisan and bicameral group of proposed legislation aiming to support rural hospitals through increased Medicare reimbursement, introduce new funding to promote innovation in rural emergency healthcare, and incentivize rural communities for healthcare workers through extended loan repayment programs.
Source: Office of Senator Marsha Blackburn
Mar 23, 2026 - Profiles a rural Arizona doctor preparing for retirement. Describes the impact on a rural community when the only doctor stops practicing, discussing health professional shortage areas, recruitment challenges, and distance to healthcare.
Source: Cronkite News
Mar 22, 2026 - Describes a research initiative investigating how artificial intelligence and mobile clinics might be used to increase access to care in rural areas with workforce shortages. Highlights rural healthcare access disparities and implementation challenges related to broadband and patient privacy.
Source: The Independent Florida Alligator
Mar 17, 2026 - Announces more than $5 million in funding for 26 teaching health centers offering primary care medical and dental residency programs in rural and other communities through the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program. The program supports training in community-based outpatient facilities and is a strategy for increasing workforce in rural and underserved communities.
Source: Health Resources & Services Administration
Mar 17, 2026 - Highlights remarks and the results of a study from a Washington medical student comparing rural and urban experiences in surgical clerkship programs. Discusses robotic surgery as a solution to rural surgeon shortages.
Source: Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine News
Mar 13, 2026 - Announces a plan to create a Center for Rural Health at Northwest Missouri State University. The goal of the Center is to train Missouri healthcare workforce to fill gaps in rural areas in the region. Describes the nursing workforce shortage in the area.
Source: Northwest Missouri State University Media Center
Mar 10, 2026 - Discusses sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) shortages across Kentucky, particularly in rural areas where case volume and access to training are limited. Describes the impacts of SANE shortages for assault survivors and state policy measures being considered to address the shortage.
Source: WPSD Local 6
Mar 10, 2026 - Describes the maternal healthcare workforce distribution in North Carolina and health disparities for rural residents where there are workforce shortages. Notes that recent policy measures aiming to increase rural access with certified nurse midwives has not fully addressed the shortage. Discusses the potential for doulas to fill the gap.
Source: NC Newsline
Mar 9, 2026 - Promotes mobile clinics as a delivery model for effective maternal health outreach in rural and other communities. Highlights maternity care deserts nationally and in Florida. Discusses successful use of the model in Florida for maternity care, noting that few of the nationally tracked mobile clinics offer maternal and infant healthcare.
Source: The Conversation
Mar 5, 2026 - Highlights the new Medical Laboratory Sciences Extended Internship Program at an Arkansas university. The program aims to reduce rural medical laboratory staff shortages in Arkansas and nearby states by training local students. An increase in rural lab staff would both speed up lab processing times and decrease the cost of care.
Source: UAMS News